Premio Happiness ONTHEMOVE

Documenting happiness, the joy of life, the beauty that surrounds us.

The great Italian comic actor Antonio De Curtis, stage-name Totò, said that making people laugh is far more difficult than making them cry. Transferring this concept to photography one could say that the portrayal of drama, suffering or tragedy is easier than portraying happiness.
On this premise, our Happiness ONTHEMOVE prize was introduced to the festival as the in-house competition in partnership with Consorzio Vino Chianti (Chianti wine producers' consortium) and with the media partnership of Pagina99.
For this contest, all photographers are charged with the task of documenting happiness, the joy of life and the beauty that surrounds us while boldly challenging the old truism, which claims "no news is good news".
It's not by pure chance that we talk about extreme challenges.
In this image-obsessed, social-media age we have created, happiness has been devalued to a mere platitude. A sort of contrived theatrical, or situational comedy depicting the subject of the 'selfie' during a snatched moment of false euphoria to be flashed before their 'friends' (and perfect strangers), thereby reducing the concept to a purely superficial dimension in an endlessly repeatable series of clichés.
The challenge of Happiness ONTHEMOVE is to find stories that explore the deeper aspects of happiness. Everyday stories. Stories that at first glance seem quite ordinary, but which nevertheless make us smile and give us glimpses of the realistic happiness of life: not always easy, not always visible. Above all - never banal.

Prizes:

The winning entry, selected by an international jury, will win 5.000 euros and will be exhibited at Cortona On The Move 2018;
The winner's name will be published on the COTM website;
The winning entry will be presented on Saturday, July 15th 2017, during the festival inauguration.

Eligibility:

The contest is suitable both for professional and amateur photographers. The author of each project must possess intellectual ownership and exclusive copyright for the work entered.

Copyrights & Usage Rights:

The author will also grant publishing rights for using 4 of the project's images for:
-Printed and online promotional articles in media chosen by ON THE MOVE.
-Press releases and promotional documents on Cortona OTM websites.
-Multimedia promotion and documentary material.
ON THE MOVE does not have the right to exploit the images for economic gain without the prior consent and agreement of the author. The winning author retains the right to be credited for his/her images.